New Jewish cemetery in Slezská Ostrava

The New Jewish Cemetery in Slezská Ostrava is a small but deeply symbolic burial ground tucked into the northwestern corner of the Central Cemetery (Ústřední hřbitov) on Na Najmanské street, roughly 1.5 km southeast of Ostrava's city centre. Covering only 3,370 m², it is modest in scale, yet it stands today as the only surviving physical trace of the Jewish community that once helped shape the city's life for generations.

Why did Ostrava need a new Jewish cemetery?

The story of Ostrava's Jewish community stretches back to the 19th century: the city's first Jewish cemetery was consecrated in 1872, and just a few years later, in 1875, the community was officially registered with 58 members. That original burial ground stood on the site of today's Sad dr. Milady Horákové park in Moravská Ostrava. When municipal authorities eventually decided to close it to make way for urban development, a new resting place had to be found for a community that, despite being decimated by the Holocaust, still existed.

When was the cemetery established, and what does it contain?

The New Jewish Cemetery began accepting burials in June 1965, as part of the construction of the larger Central Cemetery in Slezská Ostrava. At that time, around 50 gravestones were relocated here from the old cemetery, preserving a fragment of historical memory even as the original site disappeared. Today the cemetery holds approximately 170 gravestones in total — a compact, intimate memorial site, far removed from the scale of the great Jewish necropolises found elsewhere in Central Europe.

What role does the ceremonial hall play?

Between 1986 and 1988, still under Communist Czechoslovakia, a ceremonial hall was built just north of the burial plots, designed by architect O. Ligocký. It was inside this hall that, on 8 March 1992 — after the Velvet Revolution — a memorial plaque was unveiled honouring roughly 8,000 Ostrava Jews who perished during the Second World War. That number reflects the sheer scale of the tragedy: the deportation of Ostrava's Jewish community began as early as October 1939, when Adolf Eichmann organized one of the first mass deportations of Jews to German-occupied Poland, launched from this very city. In 1942 the remaining members of the community were sent to the Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp, and from there onward to Nazi death camps including Auschwitz and Treblinka.

Who owns the cemetery today?

Both the cemetery and its ceremonial hall now belong to the Jewish Community of Ostrava, which maintains the grounds and safeguards the memory of those buried there. The site serves a dual role: it remains an active cemetery where burials still take place according to Jewish tradition, while also functioning as a symbolic memorial to a community that was almost entirely erased from the city by the Holocaust.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors walk through the cemetery? As part of the Central Cemetery in Slezská Ostrava, it is accessible during the site's regular opening hours, though visitors should remember it remains an active burial ground maintained by the local Jewish community and treat it with appropriate respect.

How does it differ from Ostrava's old Jewish cemetery? The old cemetery, consecrated in 1872, was closed due to urban expansion and is now a public park. The new cemetery inherited part of its gravestones and has served as the community's burial site since 1965.

Why is this site historically significant? It is the only surviving physical remnant of centuries of Jewish presence in Ostrava, and the plaque inside its ceremonial hall directly commemorates the Holocaust victims from the region.